


when haven falls

by Magnolia35



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Blood and Gore, F/M, Gen, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Graphic Description, Hurt No Comfort, Mild Gore, Not Canon Compliant, Plague, Sad Ending, Sickfic, Whump, everyone dies, most likely not medically accurate, oh god im so sorry, there is blood, there is grief, there is pus, there is wheezing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:54:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24250924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magnolia35/pseuds/Magnolia35
Summary: It begins with maybe a lump or a sneeze or an unusual heaviness to the wings.or,bubonic plague comes to the hidden world.tw for description of disease.
Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson, Zephyr Haddock & Toothless
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	when haven falls

_It begins a few days after Hiccup and Hiccup’s brood visit Toothless and his family. It rears it’s great ugly head for the first time in Haven when Ruffrunner develops a sniffle and a soul-deep cold. Neither humans nor dragons had noticed, but the youngest of the Haddocks had a sniffle those days they had visited. Oh, how they wished they had noticed. And now, well..._

_There is a sickness hunting through Toothless’ people. The scent was thick in the stifled air of Haven. It begins with maybe a lump or a sneeze or an unusual heaviness to the wings. Of course, they didn’t use their wings much these days anyways. The sickness would then eat through it’s prey, leading to anything from painful ulcers to the inability to breathe. He’d lost all three of his hatchlings to the silent hunter. So many dragons... so many dead. Meatlug, Stormfly and Hookfang- all gone. Barf and Belch- barely clinging to life. Every day, another ten, twenty, hundred dragons lost. They’d burned the bodies with fire at first but it was becoming harder as the dead began to outnumber the living. Toothless’ own hatchlings had been some of the first, stealing their breath from their bodies in the would-be-night. The damp conditions had only spurred the disease on, cutting the inhabitants of Haven down like a scythe through wheat._

_Mate was still in mourning for their lost dragonets. “Failed!” she cried, “Failure! Hatchlings dead!”_

_“No,” Toothless crooned to her, “Not failure. Not failure.”_

_“How?” wailed Mate, “How?”_

_Toothless could say nothing, because he did not know how or why this had happened. He murmured meaningless platitudes to her, crooning as he curled around her body. It was starkly different from how cold their dragonets had been and he would have wept if he could for the terrible loss._

_It was just their luck when three sleeps later she started wheezing and gasping for air and complaining of a frigid cold._

Hiccup and his family were two weeks into sailing back to Berk when the dragon slammed into their boat. “What the-“ Hiccup had muttered, before a great black paw scrabbled at the side. Toothless hauled his great black body onto the boat. “Hey Bud!” Hiccup said, pleased to see his best friend, “I didn’t realise you wanted to see me ag-“ he was cut off by a horrific wailing. “Hiccup.” Astrid warned, drawing Nuffink and Zephyr behind her back. The children whimpered in fear at the sight of the previously friendly dragon. Eventually Toothless cut off his wailing and slowly dragged his body to face Hiccup. His breath smelled of death and sickness, like the sufferers in the plague. 

Toothless roared at them, eyes clouded with delirium and grief. His scales were scuffed and had lost their shine, his talons worn down from clinging to pillars in the hidden world. His tail was warped and corroded with seawater and the metal looked to be leaving constantly irritated wounds that were becoming infected. But none if it compared to the stench. Oh, the _stench_. It was of rot and sickly-sweet flesh with hints of dragon fire. Whatever had happened in the few weeks since they’d left the Hidden World, it had been _bad_. 

Toothless moved to lunge at Hiccup but missed, his limbs failing to support his body. Toothless fell onto the floor of the boat, a massive thud ringing throughout the boat as flesh met wood. The drake let out a whine that spoke of loss and anguish, pain and suffering. Gaping wounds along his body from blisters oozed yellowish pus, rust coloured stains decorating the dragon sporadically. He dragged his body to Hiccup’s feet and moaned up at one who was once his saviour, exposing missing teeth and festering sores. Hiccup’s eyes widened at the sight of his best friend in such a state, finally starting to take in exactly how bad Toothless looked. Toothless was dying. Oh gods, Toothless was _dying_.

Hiccup sobbed and fell to his knees as he threw his arms around Toothless’ neck, cradling the dragon’s head in his arms. The dragon’s eye drifted, lazily staring at some fixed point far past Hiccup. He didn’t even have the energy to shake off the offending embrace, simply accepting the warmth. Hiccup buried his head in Toothless’ shoulders, shoulders shaking and chest heaving as he listened to Toothless heaving his final, wheezing breaths. The dragon stilled and eyes became glazed as they focused in on his best friend for one final time. Slits widened to ovals as they locked eyes and Hiccup let out a great wail when his best friend’s chest stilled for one last time.

Zephyr was just scared. She held her little brother closer to her, watching her parents cradle each other over the body of the animal. She hadn’t know the kind dragon long but her father looked at him like he looked at no one else, not even her mother. There was something there, soul-deep and primal, yet crafted like silk on a spinneret of a spider. She held the black scale close to her chest, noting the rust-covered edge. She rubbed at the stain but it wouldn’t come off. Zephyr was so very scared and yet so very brave. Nuffink whimpered and she curled around him, hiding from the biting wind and freezing seawater. She could only pray to whatever gods were listening that they would make it home. Zephyr winced as her father emitted another wail and knew it would be a long night.

Hiccup and Astrid pushed the body of what was once Hiccup’s best friend into the frothing sea. It sank, deeper and deeper before they couldn’t see it anymore. Astrid cradled her husband as he wailed, cursing the gods and all those who were listening. Zephyr and Nuffink hid behind their mother, unsure of why the kind dragon was dead and his father was so terribly sad. The boat was littered with black, oval-shaped scales and Zephyr picked one up, tucking it into her furs. Her father stared into the great dark sea, tear streaked and snotty face reflected in the water. Zephyr’s mother had lines of tears creeping down her face too, having realised the king of dragons wouldn’t abandon his followers so easily.

Two days later, Nuffink’s sniffle developed into a wheeze.

The boat never made it back to Berk.

**Author's Note:**

> first of all; please don’t bash! kind comments preferably! basically the general gist is hiccup and family are infected with bubonic plague and somehow transmits it to toothless and his fam (don’t ask how, i don’t know) and it decimates the hidden world. seriously, most of the dragons down there would have literally no immunity. and yes it’s tragic and horrible.


End file.
